Terrified and bewildered by our technology and our vast array of perversions and really disappointed in the fact that the world has not ended yet
What would a medieval person think of us?
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Considering that the average height was much lower in older days than it is now, i'd probably either be viewed as some kind of angel or some kind of monster.
There's a few possible reactions. Awe. Fear. Terror.
They may think we're demons or at the very least heathens or heretics given religious sensibilities.
Also depends on which country it would involve...
They may think we're demons or at the very least heathens or heretics given religious sensibilities.
Also depends on which country it would involve...
"Why do they do that so much? Don't they know that they'll go blind?"
I am, of course, talking about corn addictions.
I am, of course, talking about corn addictions.
Depends what you mean by "enlightened". A lot of things were improved upon, others lost almost totally, in large part because the infrastructure wasn't there.BathorysGraveland2 said:
I do find it interesting that the Macedonian sarissa was revived as the European pike. Literally, people went back to the weapon their ancestors used over a thousand years ago, which nowdays is the backbone of half of modern science ficiton, it seems.
Just imagine Wonder Woman is a medieval knight instead.
Our junk food would blow their minds. And also the fact that poor people can have baths!
Our junk food would blow their minds. And also the fact that poor people can have baths!
Maybe they will laugh at how they are so glamourize and romanticize in the pop media like books, movies and videogames where many tropes and the setting literally exist because of them. Or they may shudder at the inaccuracy how we portrayed them.
I'm going to assume, for simplicity's sake, that this is a Medieval English person getting timewarped to modern England. I'll call him Bob for convenience. As mentioned before, 11th century English was for all intents and purposes a different language from modern English, so Bob wouldn't be able to understand anyone, nor would anyone be able to understand him. And even if he was one of the few people who was literate, he wouldn't be able to understand any modern writing either.
Other people have covered how initially bewildered Bob is going to be. If he pops up in a city, there will be noise like nothing he had experienced outside of maybe a battle, giant metal beasts with people inside zipping around the roads, artificial lights, people in funny clothes... Even little things like glass everywhere in a far higher quality than even cathedrals of the time had. Given the beliefs of people at the time, I imagine Bob might think that he's either been taken to fairyland or died and gone to either heaven or (more likely) hell. It may take him a while to even realize he's still on Earth, just a thousand years in the future, unless he ran into some recognizable landmark from his time that still exists, and maybe not even then.
But assuming Bob doesn't get run over by a car, he is soon going to face some pretty serious problems. Bob is effectively in a foreign country, where nobody can speak his language and his money is worthless (even if he has gold or silver coins, nobody is going to accept that as payment and even if he found someone willing to buy them, the language barrier would prevent a sale from taking place). Meanwhile, all the moderns around him will see a smelly, strangely dressed person who speaks in gibberish and immediately think "crazy homeless man." One way or another, Bob is probably soon going to get the police's attention. A likely scenario is that he gets hungry, finds a grocery store, and gets arrested for trying to shoplift food, but there are any number of other ways it could happen.
Once the police have Bob in custody, they'll be confused too. Here's a man that nobody knows, with no identification, speaking a language that none of the translators at the precinct can speak. They may end up calling local mental hospitals to ask if they've had any recent escapes, or sending Bob's picture to homeless shelters and the like, but such efforts would prove fruitless. They might guess that he's an illegal immigrant, but without knowing which country Bob is from, they wouldn't be able to deport him.
It's likely that no one will recognize that Bob actually is speaking Old English for a while, though if Bob can speak Latin, then people would recognize that, and they could easily call in a Professor of Classical Studies to act as an interpreter. Otherwise, while I don't know police procedure with this kind of thing, I imagine that after a while they might bring in a professional linguist to ask if he can identify the language, and if so that person probably would recognize Old English. Alternatively, maybe one of the people at the police department will have heard Beowulf in the original language.
In any case, once the police can communicate with Bob, talking with him will not improve matters. Hearing Bob say that he is from a thousand years in the past will just make people more sure that he has some kind of mental illness. With nowhere else to go, Bob will probably end up in a mental hospital.
One major concern might be disease. Bob may well be carrying around nastier germs than the average modern, and could get a lot of people sick. Worst case scenario would be if Bob was infected with Smallpox, which could easily trigger a national emergency. On the other hand, given that this is only one person, there's a good chance he wouldn't have anything worse than the common cold.
EDIT:
Unless the timewarp deposited the person from medieval Europe in a tropical developing country, in which case he might have to worry about malaria, yellow fever, or similar diseases. But that would be due entirely to geographic displacement.
Other people have covered how initially bewildered Bob is going to be. If he pops up in a city, there will be noise like nothing he had experienced outside of maybe a battle, giant metal beasts with people inside zipping around the roads, artificial lights, people in funny clothes... Even little things like glass everywhere in a far higher quality than even cathedrals of the time had. Given the beliefs of people at the time, I imagine Bob might think that he's either been taken to fairyland or died and gone to either heaven or (more likely) hell. It may take him a while to even realize he's still on Earth, just a thousand years in the future, unless he ran into some recognizable landmark from his time that still exists, and maybe not even then.
But assuming Bob doesn't get run over by a car, he is soon going to face some pretty serious problems. Bob is effectively in a foreign country, where nobody can speak his language and his money is worthless (even if he has gold or silver coins, nobody is going to accept that as payment and even if he found someone willing to buy them, the language barrier would prevent a sale from taking place). Meanwhile, all the moderns around him will see a smelly, strangely dressed person who speaks in gibberish and immediately think "crazy homeless man." One way or another, Bob is probably soon going to get the police's attention. A likely scenario is that he gets hungry, finds a grocery store, and gets arrested for trying to shoplift food, but there are any number of other ways it could happen.
Once the police have Bob in custody, they'll be confused too. Here's a man that nobody knows, with no identification, speaking a language that none of the translators at the precinct can speak. They may end up calling local mental hospitals to ask if they've had any recent escapes, or sending Bob's picture to homeless shelters and the like, but such efforts would prove fruitless. They might guess that he's an illegal immigrant, but without knowing which country Bob is from, they wouldn't be able to deport him.
It's likely that no one will recognize that Bob actually is speaking Old English for a while, though if Bob can speak Latin, then people would recognize that, and they could easily call in a Professor of Classical Studies to act as an interpreter. Otherwise, while I don't know police procedure with this kind of thing, I imagine that after a while they might bring in a professional linguist to ask if he can identify the language, and if so that person probably would recognize Old English. Alternatively, maybe one of the people at the police department will have heard Beowulf in the original language.
In any case, once the police can communicate with Bob, talking with him will not improve matters. Hearing Bob say that he is from a thousand years in the past will just make people more sure that he has some kind of mental illness. With nowhere else to go, Bob will probably end up in a mental hospital.
One major concern might be disease. Bob may well be carrying around nastier germs than the average modern, and could get a lot of people sick. Worst case scenario would be if Bob was infected with Smallpox, which could easily trigger a national emergency. On the other hand, given that this is only one person, there's a good chance he wouldn't have anything worse than the common cold.
EDIT:
Actually, given massive advances in modern medicine, a modern developed country would have far less disease than 11th century Europe. There also wouldn't be any diseases that a medieval person would be unfamiliar with, except maybe Syphilis, but what are the chances of running into someone with that? Like I said before, we would be more at risk of catching diseases from a timewarped medieval person that the other way around.freaper said:
Unless the timewarp deposited the person from medieval Europe in a tropical developing country, in which case he might have to worry about malaria, yellow fever, or similar diseases. But that would be due entirely to geographic displacement.
Well the original movie was made in France, although there is an American remake in 2001 with Jean Reno still as the star, also the original has a sequel, i remember watching the remake when i was i kid and i recently rediscovered it.FalloutJack said:
The person would have huge problems trying to comprehend the sheer number of people. In 1000 AD there were around 250-300 million people in the entire world. England's population was less than a million, on the order of the current population of Austin, TX, which nobody regards as a megalopolis. For some sense of proportion, think about if an American found himself in a city of 300 million people.
Plus, of course, the lack of shit. No gutters and cesspits teeming with piles of festering shit.
Plus, of course, the lack of shit. No gutters and cesspits teeming with piles of festering shit.
Probably have some severe allergic reaction. I mean, those few seconds before it kicks in they'll think they were in some kind of heaven or hell, depending on where you bring them, but after that there bodies aren't used to the chemicals in the air or the materials around us so most likely allergic reaction.
Not that likely. Sure, they'd not be used to it (though, depends on their job, some dealt with some nasty fumes), but it's not long term exposure that stops us from all getting allergic reactions.Shiftygiant said:
Also, I've read that autoimmune disorders such as allergies and asthma are more common in developed countries than developing countries. One of the main theories why is that people in developed countries aren't exposed to as many diseases in childhood, so their immune systems get a bit paranoid, to greatly simplify things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesisthaluikhain said:
If true, then a timewarped medieval person would be far less likely to have allergies than a modern person. Though I'm sure they'll still be surprised by the fumes and chemicals in the air. Not that they'd be totally ignorant of such things, since people still burned charcoal and stuff back then, but the ubiquity of such smells would surprise them.
I think this video gets some things wrong (couches definitely existed back in the 17th century though they were expensive, and Renaissance paintings included plenty of undressed women), but it does make a few good points. In particular, air conditioning would be something that a time-displaced person would have no concept of, and the first time they walked into an air conditioned or heated building would be a major shock. I can just imagine a time-warped medieval peasant walking back and forth though a store's automatic doors, with a puzzled expression on their face.theNater said:
If a medieval person came into our time, I think that they would be in awe, mixed with a lot of fear, and thinking that everything electric is powered with some form of magic.
Odds are good he'd either have a heart attack and die from the pure shock or the latest in women's fashion would give him such a huge boner he'd lose all of his blood and his brain would shut down and he'd die. Or he'd walk across the street and get hit by a car and die. Or he'd freak out, pull out a knife and start stabbing random people thinking he's in some kind of demon induced fever dream until the cops show up, shoot him, and he dies.
And that's not even getting into the differences in microbes from a thousand years of evolution. He so much as touches a doorknob and it'll kill him from the massive influx of foreign germs that his body has never had a chance to adapt to. Anyone he comes into contact with would have similar problems from the pathogens he'd bring with him since a thousand years of time is possibly enough time for your body to be unable to differentiate between past strains and current strains, leaving your immune system vulnerable. God forbid he brings smallpox back with him.
Basically, there's no situation where this turns out for the best for anyone involved.
And that's not even getting into the differences in microbes from a thousand years of evolution. He so much as touches a doorknob and it'll kill him from the massive influx of foreign germs that his body has never had a chance to adapt to. Anyone he comes into contact with would have similar problems from the pathogens he'd bring with him since a thousand years of time is possibly enough time for your body to be unable to differentiate between past strains and current strains, leaving your immune system vulnerable. God forbid he brings smallpox back with him.
Basically, there's no situation where this turns out for the best for anyone involved.
Well if they happened to pop up in my flat, I know of a professor at Cardiff uni who'd be able to make some headway in understanding them. Then we'd try to get experimental data by slowly introducing them to various bits of modern technology and science and see how they take it, and also because that's a quick route to a really big research grant... First we'd do the easy stuff; remember that even things like printing weren't invented back in the 1000's, but they'd be familiar with the idea of books. They could probably get their head around a 'mechanical scribe' easily enough. We'd have to explain light bulbs before very long anyway, so that would probably next. I'd leave things like television and cars as long as possible - we'd have to transport this person through cardiff at the very dead of night and go by routes that don't get much traffic.
Hopefully this person would be a child, seeing as children are far more adaptable than adults and would presumably be able to adjust, assuming this is meant to be a one way trip.
Hopefully this person would be a child, seeing as children are far more adaptable than adults and would presumably be able to adjust, assuming this is meant to be a one way trip.
As mentioned a few times already, that would not happen. People deal with new strains of common diseases all the time, that's why flu vaccines don't work very well or for long.Kajin said:
OTOH, he could be carrying smallpox or bubonic plague. That'd be a problem, bur first world countries could cope.